


Look, And You May See

by Yulicia



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Happy Ending, M/M, Original Character(s), POV Outsider, the earth observation files are curated by an exhausted angel who Ships It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-01 12:23:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20258041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yulicia/pseuds/Yulicia
Summary: From the beginning of recorded time the Department of Watchers oversaw the work of angels sent down to Earth. Naturally, this included one Aziraphale - an angel one of the Watchers was particularly interested in observing. Him, and his relationship with that demon he always seemed to be with...





	Look, And You May See

Heaven was, at its core, spectacularly organised. It had departments and roles and angels for all sorts of things. One of these departments was the Department of Watchers. 

The Department of Watchers was an offshoot of the Earth branch and, with it’s collection of minor angels, observed and collected data on all heavenly activity on Earth. In the beginning they had been concerned with the Garden, of course, watching God’s latest pet project with a keen and curious eye, making sure that nothing went awry inside. As we all know this was to be a spectacular failure but hey, at least they tried. 

Inside this department there was an angel. They were not special, or important, or even particularly interesting to look at. Their name was Ezariel. 

Ezariel had been tasked with keeping an eye (or several) on Heaven’s Principalities while they were on Earth. In the Beginning they watched over several Principalities but the most interesting of the bunch was the most familiar Guardian of the East Gate, Aziraphale. 

For several days Ezariel had watched the Guardian of the East gate stand at his post. To do this they used something they deemed the All-Seeing Eye. It was, as its name suggests, a floating eye - though it was quite invisible to both angel and human alike. 

Nothing peculiar had happened until the day before the rain came. 

Ezariel had watched the Guardian of the East gate give Eve his flaming sword. Ezariel had almost had a conniption watching it. For the first time since their (fairly recent) creation Ezariel had felt torn. Her mind told her that she should report this to one of the Archangels but a little voice in the back of her head shooed her away from that idea. Surely if his crime had been so horrific he would’ve been cast away instantly, made to slum it in Hell with the other traitors. That, however, was not her decision, or any angel’s decision, to make. The Fall was the Almighty’s alone to give. 

And so she let him give away his sword, wiped the incident from the files, and carried on her watching. The incident had shocked her and she kept a much closer eye on this Principality. 

Not long after the Sword Incident came another incident. A  _ Demon _ Incident. 

Ezariel had watched as a giant black snake had slithered up beside the Guardian of the Eastern Gate. She’d watched as the snake became a man - a man she knew held a demon. 

Her heart raced as the demon began to speak to the Principality. She was ready to call for reinforcements to aid Aziraphale at any moment should he need it. A demon, even a lesser demon as this one appeared to be, was not a threat to be taken lightly. 

However, no such thing seemed to be necessary… yet, at least. The demon showed no signs of aggression and Aziraphale did not seem defensive, only a little uncomfortable in the way most where when confronted with a new, unknown person. They talked, though Ezariel did not know about what since All-Seeing eye didn’t have audio. See, Heaven hadn’t quite worked out how to do that yet. Angel’s true forms were known for their eyes, not their ears, after all. 

Ezariel watched with interest, her body wound like a tightly coiled spring. As placating as the demon seemed to be she knew demon’s lied and was still not willing to risk a Principalities life with her complacency.

Aziraphale’s face made some strange movements and suddenly he seemed to be yelling. But the demon didn’t slink away. The demon seemed giddy. The demon looked… smitten? Oh, now that was a new one.

Then the rain began. The demon flinched minutely, eyes darting to the sky. The demon shuffled closer. Without a thought Principality Aziraphale lifted a wing and held it over the demon’s head. 

Ezariel could only watch in awe. These two would be very interesting to follow indeed.

* * *

Ezariel watched Aziraphale’s work from then on. Although she had many Principalities to watch as it was still the beginning of the Earth and humanity needed a little bit of angelic guidance Aziraphale was definitely her favourite. Despite her original sword related thoughts about him it did seem as though he was quite a good angel. 

It wasn’t until just before the planned Great Flood that Ezariel saw the demon again. 

The demon had struck up a conversation and Aziraphale had reciprocated. They talked for a moment before the demon’s face took a shocked note followed by a particularly sour note. He seemed upset, though Ezariel couldn’t possibly figure out why. Perhaps he took issue with God’s plan. That seemed like reasonable behaviour for a demon. 

The rain started. The flood was coming. The demon disappeared, running off into the crowd of humans around him. Ezariel didn’t stick around to see what the demon got up to (wasn’t her department) but if she had she might have seen him surrounded by human children, huddling around the scared masses as the waters came in. 

Aziraphale, along with the other Principalities stationed on Earth, were to return to Heaven to wait out the flood. If Ezariel had noticed he seemed a little off-kilter among the clouds well, he’d been on Earth for years, it was only natural.

* * *

The Principalities returned to Earth as the first rainbow was painted across the sky and Ezariel and her All-Seeing Eye returned with them. She quickly found herself quite busy with all the business surrounding the coming of Jesus Christ and as such had to leave Aziraphale to his own devices. She could not be there no watch his work with the likes of Archangel Gabriel requiring her time. 

It wasn’t until the Son of God came to the untimely end of his life that Ezariel was able to return to Aziraphale. 

The day of the Crucifixion was quite a sombre occasion for the beings of Heaven. Though it was destined there was not a celestial being alive that did not feel a tug at their heart watching the pain of one they so dearly called their own. Ezariel could see several angels gathered in the crowd on Earth, hidden away in their corporeal forms as they were. 

Aziraphale was there, of course, and so was that demon who so often took his place by the Principalities side. Ezariel did not yet know the demon’s name, but longed to. Perhaps she could ask Aziraphale when he returned to Heaven…

If Ezariel thought the demon had looked upset before the flood it was nothing compared to now. It seems as it was not only angels were moved by the tragedy of today. He looked terribly sombre. Ezariel could see that he had tried to crack a joke but even without sound she knew it could not help.

Heaven grieved and so, it seemed, did at least one denizen of Hell. 

* * *

It was many years before Aziraphale saw the demon again. Ezariel had been with him for as much as she could be, watching silently with her Eye. She had not had to interfere with Aziraphale’s work yet which was nice. Quite a few of the other Prinpalities hadn’t got the hang of Earth as quickly as he had and they’d needed some help. 

In Rome the pair met once more and even Ezariel all the way in Heaven could see how spiky the demon was today. That seemed more in line with what a demon should be. It helped quell the dissonance Ezariel had felt watching this demon who wasn’t nearly as evil as he should have been. 

But just as quickly as his anger had flaired it had calmed, likely from whatever Aziraphale had said. It warmed Ezariel’s heart to see the change in him. There was a spark of something wonderful here, it just needed time to build. 

They had gone to lunch and Ezariel had left them to it. She had long since learned that it was best to turn her gaze somewhere more useful whenever food and Aziraphale were involved. There was only so many times one could watch another eat before it grew stale.

* * *

Ezariel kept an eye (or more specifically, The Eye) on Aziraphale alongside her usual Principalities for hundreds of years. Sometime time during the 14th century Heaven had finally worked out a way to add audio to the All-Seeing Eye. It was a little overwhelming to suddenly hear when before there was silence, but Ezariel had adapted. 

With audio now available she had learned the demons name - Crowley. She thought it suited him. 

Aziraphale and Crowley met somewhat frequently every century or so. Crowley had his wiles and Aziraphale thwarted them, as it should be. Their work cancelled each other out in the end but it was an A+ for effort. 

(Ezariel really did give Aziraphale an A+. She had a little chart of all of her Principalities and she’d, unknown to them, given them all grades. So far Aziraphale was one of her top marks, just a bit ahead of Tassiel; an angel currently stationed in lower Africa and a solid A-.) 

Ezariel had grown to like Aziraphale quite a bit. He was a little bit odd as far as angels came but that’s what made him interesting to watch. She’d grown to appreciate his love of food and drink (though she still didn’t quite  _ understand  _ it) and had even begun to enjoy reading. Being a Watcher she could not of course read her own books but she was getting quite good at reading over people’s shoulders. 

When Shakespeare’s time rolled around she was positively enthralled by the bard. Never before had she had such access to such interesting stories! She didn’t have to read over anyone’s shoulder and, since Principality Aziraphale was also quite the fan, she could watch his plays under the guise she was doing work! 

Her work, which was unfortunately beginning to become obsolete. Many of her previous Principalities had returned to Heaven during the last three centuries or so. During the early days she had kept a battalion of nearly ninety angels under her watchful supervision. These days, however, the number had dwindled to a mere twenty.

Even the Department itself had grown smaller. Ezariel, who once worked alongside six other Watchers, now worked alone. Most of the others had been transferred to Miracles last century, with one exception having moved to Human Resources instead. 

With so much free time Ezariel had become bored. She had taken up scrapbooking. She had a giant folder full of lovely things she saw on Earth, printed neatly in black and white. Everything the All-Seeing Eye observed was recorded digitally but the physical copies were just for her. There were pictures of flowers, and art, and people, and cute little puppies. It was one of her most prized possessions, though she was wary not to fall victim to Pride. 

Ezariel had been “watching” Aziraphale watch the rehearsal of one of Shakespear’s new plays. This one was quite tragic, she hears. The demon Crowley had appeared once again and by now Ezariel wasn’t worried. He posed no threat to the Principality.

It was here that Ezariel truly learned of “the arrangement”. See, Ezariel had so often been busy that she’d not always seen the temptations that Aziraphale had done in Crowley’s stead. Maybe it had been a rough day, maybe choir that day had thrown her off her rhythm, maybe she had not been able to hear them. Either way this was the first she’d heard of it. 

She was shocked at first. She’d given Aziraphale such a high grade and he’s been off performing  _ temptations?! _ But then she saw the genius of it. The pair cancelled each other out already, why put in all the effort for the same result? It was, Almighty trike her down, rather clever.

But the Archangels would certainly not think so. No, oh no, Gabriel would be furious if he ever found out. Whatever he’d do to Aziraphale wouldn’t be nice  _ at all _ . And she quite liked Aziraphale. It’d be rather terrible if she lost her favourite Principality. So she kept the arrangement to herself. 

With that tucked away and the records of any arrangement thoroughly destroyed she turned her attention back to the pair. Aziraphale was giving Crowley that familiar warm look that he didn’t seem to realise he was giving.

Then later he’d claimed Crowley wasn’t his friend. Ezariel actually felt a pang of sympathy for the demon then. That was rather cruel of Aziraphale. Of course they were friends! Anyone who watched them for any amount of time could see that.

(And oh boy has Ezariel been watching them for a  _ while. _ She’d even given the Bard a bit of divine inspiration based on her work for one of his plays.) 

There was a discussion of miracles and of Hamlet. She watched Crowley crumple under the weight of Aziraphale’s pleading gaze. Oh, how Aziraphale couldn’t see the love pouring off of that demon she’ll never know. 

Ezariel then felt something she hadn’t ever felt before. She felt strangely… protective of these two. She’d been tasked to watch her agents with an impartial eye but she had to admit she was growing attached. She wanted these two to be happy and she knew in that moment she’d do anything in her power to make it so.

* * *

Her power, turns out, was mostly useless. She was an angel almost single handedly running a department Heaven no longer valued. She could not send any angels down to support Aziraphale and she certainly couldn’t go down there herself. She didn’t have jurisdiction to perform miracles either. She was an observer. She was helpless. 

And so she scrapbooked. She’d collected hundreds of images of the two from the Earth Observation Files (many of which she had a hand in recording) and had had them printed. Her folder, once flowers, and puppies and all things lovely now held an entire chapter dedicated to Crowley and Aziraphale. 

The 19th century rolled around and she watched as Aziraphale refused Crowley’s request for holy water. She’d watched what she thought was the end point of their relationship play out before her eyes. Her heart ached. Aziraphale was right; he  _ would _ face dire consequences if he was caught quote “fraternising” and it made Ezariel weep. She had had so much hope for him and now it had been crushed. She wanted to scream.

Unfortunately she had no time for screaming as Heaven was under renovation and the builders had come to rework the Department of Watchers to fit the office theme the Powers That Be had decided on. Such is her lot in life. 

* * *

Ezariel had been horribly depressed about the pairs spat in the 19th century and it wasn’t until 1941 that her spirits were lifted. 

She had watched eagerly as Aziraphale thoroughly bamboozled the pair of Nazis - she’d even gave a ‘whoop’ of support. Then Aziraphale had been thoroughly bamboozled  _ himself _ and Ezariel was back on alert. He may be in the kind of danger he couldn’t get himself out of this time.

Ezariel huffed. Her department had grown even more powerless as Earth spun into the 20th century. She now only watched over a remaining three Principalities and the closest one she could have possibly requested aid from was in  _ Poland. _ Morally she couldn’t tear them away from their terribly grim work and logistically there was no way she could ask anyway. 

Ezariel had resigned herself to preparing the  _ Untimely Discorperation of a Principalit _ y paperwork when, like a knight in shining armour, their saviour arrived. 

Never in her life had Ezariel been so happy to see a demon. He bounced down the church aisle towards Aziraphale and Ezariel’s eyes were positively glued to the action. Crowley revealed both his new name (Anthony didn’t suit him half as well, Ezariel thought) and his plan. It was positively genius (the plan, not the name).

With the church destroyed and their assailants dead beneath the rubble Ezariel stopped to watch the pair. Aziraphale bemoaned the loss of his books and Crowley, thoughtful little demon he was, handed those very books back to the angel. 

It was there that she saw it. She saw the realisation in the Principalities eyes. Heard the metaphorical choir in his head. Felt his aura grow brighter. Sense the explosion of warmth, and joy, and  _ love _ .  _ Finally _ , Ezariel thought,  _ finally.  _

* * *

Ezariel had perhaps been a little too eager. She had found out that things weren’t going to go as smoothly as she hoped during the 1960’s. 

Aziraphale, it turns out, was still an angel. Aziraphale was a child of Heaven. He couldn’t exactly run off into the sunset with a denizen of Hell, with the  _ enemy _ . Ezariel, in her heart, knew this. She understood his fear. It was only through general negligence and a couple of conveniently lost records (courtesy of her) that no one in Heaven had found out about their friendship. 

She heard the words  _ You go too fast for me, Crowley  _ and she wrenched the All- Seeing Eye away from the Principality. She didn’t need to hear anymore. 

Ezariel was suddenly very glad she worked in this office alone. 

* * *

Then, as with all good stories, the Apocolypse happens. Well, the apocalypse  _ starts,  _ rather. 

The Antichrist is delivered and Earth’s days are numbered. Heaven was all aflutter with the news. They had been waiting for this day for longer than most could remember. The battalions were already beginning to form in preparation for war. 

Ezariel watches. 

Aziraphale is her last Principality. All of the others had returned to Heaven. There were no angels on Earth who required her supervision anymore and even continuing to watch over Aziraphale was more of a formality than a duty that had been asked of her. She had, in brief, become obsolete.

With the loss of her work she gained even more spare time. Her scrapbook had grown thick over the years with so many new flowers and puppies. Her chapter on Aziraphale and Crowley had also grown though the sight of them caused her heart to ache. She felt as though she was watching the Bard’s great love story every time her gaze turned back to them. Star-crossed lovers, indeed. 

Ezariel turns her gaze away as the pair return to the bookshop to get, in essence, absolutely plastered. She did not need to watch. The All-Seeing Eye had lost a lot of it’s power since its creation and Ezariel didn’t want to fry the batteries so to speak. 

She returned about a week later to see Aziraphale dressed in the frumpiest frock she’d ever seen him in, sporting new teeth and a new voice. This was not strictly, of course, Aziraphale but rather someone come to be known as Brother Francis. 

Ezariel could not linger but over the next 11 years she checked in every now and then. Aziraphale was doing quite a bang up job of trying to teach the Antichrist the philosophies of Heaven. Unfortunately, Crowley was also doing quite a good job of introducing him to the teachings of Hell. It was as it had always been. One tugged upwards, one tugged downwards, and in the end everyone fell on their arses and nothing had changed but the mud on their pants. 

The day of reckoning soon arrives and nothing happens. Well,  _ something _ happens, just not to the (honestly bratty) kid Aziraphale had been watching over. The Antichrist’s powers awaken with a hellhound and Heaven truly begins to get ready for war.

* * *

As of the year 2019 the Department of Watchers had been remodeled to look like an office one might find on Earth. The walls are grey and inside there is only one desk with an uncomfortable plastic chair. The rest of the room is filled with a large computer server with the records of 6000 years of Earth stored within it.

Ezariel sits at her desk with the All-Seeing Eye turned away to conserve power, scrapbooking. 

She had, in the last 500 years or so, found quite a lot of material for it. She had several pictures of little Yorkshire Terriers in cute sweater vests and many a picture of Crowley and Aziraphale, side by side. 

There is movement by the doorway and Ezariel startles. She hadn’t had a visitor in almost a hundred and fifty years. She snaps the scrapbook shut, shoving it under some haphazard paperwork. 

“Is there something I can help you with—-  _ Michael _ !” Ezariel almost shouts. There was an Archangel standing in her doorway, looking less than pleased.

Ezariel swallows, straightening in her chair. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” 

Michael strides inside, closing the door behind her. She is tall and intimidating and Ezariel holds her breath as she draws closer.

“Where do you keep your files?” Michael asks.

Ezariel gestures the server behind her. “Here, sir,” she stutters.

“I need everything you have on the Principality Aziraphale.”

Ezariel swallows. “That’s 6000 years worth of data.”

Michael nods.

“Everything..?” Ezariel repeats. 

Michael nods. Ezariel frowns and spins her chair to tap away at a panel on her desk. She pulls up the Watcher database on the large monitor beside her and keys in the code for Aziraphale. 

Michael turns her piercing gaze to the large monitor beside Ezariel. Thousands of images and recordings of Aziraphale fly by. Almost everything (other than the few files Ezariel had hidden) Aziraphale has ever done on Earth is on display on that monitor. 

Michael moves forward to lean against the edge of the desk. She bumps against a stack of paperwork and sends it fluttering to the group.

“Oh no!” Ezariel gasps as Michael utters an apology. Her apology is halted as she sees the scrapbook the tumble had revealed. 

Michael picks up the scrapbook and Ezariel feel her heart stop. “What is this?”

“Uh…” Ezariel says intelligently.

What could she say? That it was lonely and boring cooped up in an office for eternity, to be forgotten to watch the work no angel enjoyed performing? That she had wanted something for herself, something to remind herself that her work was worth it?

Michael opens the scrapbook and it falls open to a page  _ covered  _ in images of Aziraphale standing beside Crowley. Michael’s eyebrows raise.

“You’ve been busy,” Michael says. Her finger runs over the pictures. “You did not trust him either.”

_ What? _ Ezariel wanted to say. Instead, she went along with it.

“Oh no, of course not. Always suspicious, that Aziraphale!” Ezariel said, doing her angelic best to do what angels did not do: lie. 

“How long have you been collecting these?” Michael asked. Her voice seemed to hold a tight hint of glee.

Ezariel swallowed. “Since the 16th century.”

Michael nodded, a smile spreading across her face. “Wonderful. You’ve done well.”

Michael waved a hand over the book and suddenly pages of images were gone, now a stack of black and white photos in her hands. Many of them seemed to be set in St. James Park. 

Michael turned to leave.

“W-wait!!” Ezariel called.

Michael turned back, looking strangely at Ezariel. Ezariel felt herself wither under the Archangels gaze. 

“Where are you taking those?” Ezariel asks.

Michael frowns. “I shouldn’t think that’s any of your business.” 

Ezariel fidgets. “It’s just, uh, um, they’re very fragile. They might not last long, uh, outside of this room!” She lied. “Please be careful with them.”

Michael smiles a corporate smile. It does not reach her eyes. “Of course. I’ll return them as soon as I can.”

Ezariel startles. “Really?”

Michael nods. “You’ve done brilliant work, angel. I know I can trust you to watch over these.” Michael pauses for a moment. “I must tell Gabriel of your dedication. He’ll be quite impressed.”

Ezariel almost faints. That was the highest praise she’d ever received. Every angel knew gaining the favour of Archangel Gabriel was worth its weight in gold. 

“T-thank you, sir,” Ezariel manages to get out. 

Michael then leaves and Ezariel is alone once more. The rush of adrenaline wears off and she buries her head in her hands. What had she done?! Now Michael knows all about Crowley, and Aziraphale, and now probably the arrangement! Ezariel had surely send Aziraphale to his doom. 

Helpless, she turned to the Eye and did what she did best. 

She watched. 

* * *

Ezariel is called to battle towards the end of the preparations. She is yanked away from the All-Seeing Eye and suited up, ready for war. Gabriel’s horn blows and all of Heaven must answer.

But the war does not start. The order is never given. Gabriel disappears and when he returns the Apocolypse has ended. Well, postponed at least. 

Angels sheathe their blades and temper their grace and return to their work with a grumble. Ezariel couldn’t be happier. She hadn’t wanted to fight and she was dreadful at it anyway. 

Ezariel rushes back to her post and flings herself into her chair. She powers up the All-Seeing Eye and sets in the code for Aziraphale. The eye blinks and then it sees. It sees… Crowley? 

She watches as Crowley enters a taxi. Ezariel swings the Eye around, looking for Aziraphale, but Aziraphale is not there. She frowns. The Eye must be worse off than she thought if it was improperly entering search codes. It wasn’t as if it had just locked onto an incorrect angelic code either, no, it had instead found a  _ demon _ . 

Ezariel shuts off the Eye and rolls up her sleeves. She finds a toolkit beside her and begins opening up the panel on her desk, looking for whatever was causing the malfunction. She’s at her work for hours and when there is a commotion outside she ignores it. 

(For the best, of course, there was a Principality breathing Hellfire out there and it was best not to get involved.) 

Eventually she gets frustrated with the machine and gives up. She powers up the Eye, inputs the code and hopes that whatever poking she did fixed it. And, to her, it did. The Eye found Aziraphale immediately. Ezariel breathed a sigh of relief. 

She watched Aziraphale as he and Crowley sat at a table in what Ezariel knew to be The Ritz. There was a piano playing a quiet but quite lovely tune and birds chattered and sang outside. Champagne was toasted, smiles were had, and all was well. 

Ezariel could see love here and for the first time in years there was an openness to it. The little jagged edges of fear that had once poked terribly at the feeling had disappeared, gone as if by some miracle. It was as if a weight had been lifted from Aziraphale’s shoulders.

Ezariel found herself smiling. This was the real  _ finally  _ she had been hoping for. This was all she could have ever wanted. Her Principality had found love. He had found freedom. He had found himself. 

Ezariel made note to miracle a lovely bouquet of flowers into Aziraphale’s bookshop. Technically miracles weren’t her department but Karephon in Miracles still owed her one. She filled the bouquet with all of her favourite flowers and addressed them to Crowley from Aziraphale. She prayed that it served the two well. It was all that she could do to help them now (not that it seemed as though they needed it).

A message then came to her by divine voice. She was to remove Aziraphale’s code from the All-Seeing Eye and archive his files. She did so, and the All-Seeing Eye blinked it’s last blink. 

She was sad to see him go but knew it was for the best. Aziraphale had always been a funny angel, never quite fitting in with the rest. Now he had somewhere he belonged and now he could freely enjoy it with the someone he loved. That was the greatest gift of all. 

Ezariel was a Watcher and she had done her duty. With the last of her angels no longer in need of her she could rest. 

How strange that in finding his own freedom, Aziraphale unknowingly had granted Ezariel theirs. 

**Author's Note:**

> i don't know shit about the bible. 
> 
> as always i'm @yulicia_ on [twitter](https://twitter.com/yulicia_)


End file.
